Mental Meanderings on Life and Writing by Carol J. Garvin

Category Archives: Reading

Ruth Logan Herneboggles my mind. Do you remember the advertisement for batteries featuring ‘the Energizer bunny’? That’s what comes to mind whenever I think of Ruthy. She just keeps going! I don’t think she considers herself amazing, but she is.

She lives on a small farm in western New York, “surrounded by grown kids, cute grandkids, cats, dogs, chickens, frogs, toads and snakes” as one of her bios says — oh, and donkeys now, too.

Ruthy and her hubby, Farmer Dave, stock a garden produce stand in their front yard during the summer and add a whole whack of pumpkins to it in the fall. She bakes constantly, usually involving hordes of children in the process, and shares recipes and related articles online at the Yankee-Belle Cafe. She also contributes regularly to the Seekerville and Petticoats & Pistols blogs.

She has single-handedly renovated rooms, transformed a closet into a reading nook for her grandchildren, built a chicken coop, and re-landscaped her front yard. I don’t think there’s anything she can’t do if she has a mind to! She is totally devoted to her family and at the same time, is active in her church and community.

I’ve never met her IRL but if I did, I know I would love her. I don’t recall how long ago it was that we became Facebook friends, but I’m just one of many for her — more than 2,850 of them at last count. You see, on top of everything else, Ruthy is a multi-published, bestselling, award-winning author.

She has published more than twenty novels for Harlequin’s Love Inspired line, and many others for Zondervan, Barbour, Waterfall Press/Amazon, Summerside Press, WaterBrook Press/Multnomah and Franciscan Media . Now she’s added mysteries to her list and is writing for Guidepost. She writes three-to-four books a year, and I don’t know how she does it.

On the other hand, yes I do. She’s disciplined about her commitments and she’s passionate about the stories she writes.

I’m one who prefers to do my writing in the quiet of late evening when the rest of my world has settled down for the night. If I happen to check Facebook around 1:30 a.m. Pacific Time, I know I’ll always find Ruthy there, posting a cheery ‘Good morning’ to her fellow #1K1HR online writers at the unearthly hour of 4:30 a.m. Eastern time. Armed with her Diet Mountain Dew, she’ll be diving into a couple hours of writing before her household starts up for the day. This morning was no exception:

“Morning crew has arrived during a very silent night… no snow so no plows… no early traffic… no littles that woke up early… Just me and sleeping dogs and a cozy fire. Let’s do this! It’s 4:29 AM. Do you know where your manuscript is???”

Ruth Logan Herne is undeniably a remarkable person. I’d like her even if she weren’t. She is sweet, humble, and brimming with faith, quick to smile, and lend a helping hand or word of encouragement. Her “Mylanta!” exclamations never fail to make me smile.

I’d aspire to be like her when I grow up, but I can’t possibly emulate her endless energy and bubbly cheerfulness, plus, given I’m probably old enough to be her mother, that’s an unachievable goal anyway. Perhaps it’s enough to be glad there are people like her in the world. She makes it a better place.

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I first introduced you to Joylene Nowell Butler here in 2011 at the time her second published novel, BROKEN BUT NOT DEAD, was being released.

During that interview, in addition to telling us about the story, Joylene shared bits about her writing process, gave us a peek at the beautiful lake she overlooks as she writes, and succinctly provided some excellent advice to aspiring writers:

“… to write … to learn your craft in earnest. Know your grammar to the best of your ability. Understand POV. Study the 3-Act Play. Learn to give and get critiques. It’s amazing what a wonderful tool critiquing is. Though others will tell you it’s your story and you know what’s best, don’t assume you do. Educate yourself. You have access to the internet? Use it. And read. Read everything in your genre that you can. Study why you love your favourite authors so much. Then get back to writing. Oh, and don’t forget to be stubborn. It helps.”

Now, with a slight change to its title, MASKI: BROKEN BUT NOT DEAD is releasing today in ebook format for both Nook and Kindle.

Joylene’s psychological thrillers have never failed to capture me. They are the kind of stories you start and then can’t put down until the last page is turned. If you like mysteries, Maski won’t disappoint.

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OVERVIEW

To the Breaking Point…

When Brendell Meshango resigns from her university professor position and retreats to her isolated cabin to repair her psyche, she is confronted by a masked intruder. His racial comments lead her to believe she is the solitary victim of a hate crime.

However, is all as it appears? After two bizarre days, the intruder mysteriously disappears but continues to play mind games with her. Taught by her mother to distrust the mainstream-based power structures, and with her stalker possibly linked to a high level of government, Brendell conceals the incident from the police. But will her silence keep her safe?

Then her beloved daughter, Zoë, is threatened and Brendell takes matters into her own hands. To save Zoë, Brendell searches for the stalker and confronts not just a depraved madman but her own fears and prejudices.

I wish Joylene much success with this, as with all her books. I’m particularly happy to be able to help get the word out, since she’s presently rather incapacitated. Last week Joylene suffered a nasty fall at her winter home in Bucerias, Mexico. It resulted in a broken femur and required a total hip replacement. She will be returning to Canada this weekend. Sending prayers up for a good trip and a very speedy recovery.

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Any one of the six people who commented on my previous post would have been a worthy winner. I knew I couldn’t be impartial, so I printed out each of the comments and enlisted the help of my hubby to pick one out of the (clean) dog bowl.

And the winning name… CLUCULZWRITER!

Congratulations, Joylene! I’ll be in touch via email to make the arrangements. I hope you’ll enjoy this delightful verse novel as much as I have.

I don’t often review books because I don’t feel comfortable passing judgment, negative or positive, on someone else’s writing. When I do recommend a book, it’s because I’m particularly enthusiastic about it.

I’m enthusiastic about ROOT BEER CANDY AND OTHER MIRACLES, but you’re likely to think I’m biased because the author is my daughter, Shari Green, and that’s not true at all. Despite it being aimed at a middle-grade audience, I’ve read it twice and am likely to read it again. It’s that good. But since you probably still think I’m biased, I’ll just let you read other people’s reviews instead of reviewing it myself…

Canadian Children’s Book News: “Writing in verse, Green aptly captures the journey of a girl faced with her first real heartbreak—the likely dissolution of her family. Bailey’s openness to confronting her reality while still believing in the extraordinary adds to her charm, as does her growing realization that heartache affects many others in her life as well.”

ROOT BEER CANDY AND OTHER MIRACLES is a verse novel but it’s not your typical metered and rhyming children’s book. You don’t think “poetry” as you read, only that the story streams vividly onto the pages, taking you into the Felicity Bay community where Bailey is spending a rather stressful summer.

“It will come to passthat a stranger from the seawill changeeverything.”

“The locals in Felicity Bay shake their heads at the ice cream man’s prophecy. “Crazy old Jasper,” they say. But Bailey isn’t so sure. She’s found something special down at the beach: a driftwood mermaid, a gift washed up from a storm. Could she be the stranger from the sea who has come to change everything? Bailey hopes so. Because this summer, she sure could use a miracle.”

Published this fall by Pajama Press, RBCAOM is just the most recent of Shari’s successes. In 2010 she won first place in the Writing for YA category of the Surrey International Writers’ contest with her short story, IN LIEU OF A WARDROBE. After that she took some time to work on full length pieces and in October 2014 her YA novel FOLLOWING CHELSEA was published by Evernight Teen. In April 2015 Vine Leaves Press released FALLING FOR ALICE, a collection of five short stories by Shari and four other YA authors in celebration of the 150th anniversary of ALICE IN WONDERLAND.

None of this sounds like bragging, does it? No, of course not, but I admit to being thrilled for all her accomplishments, not the least of which was last month’s Special Achievement Award presented to Shari by the Surrey Board of Trade at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference.

If you’d like to know more about Shari, you could head for her blog or check out her Bio here.

This brings me to the giveaway(for Canada and the USA only, please). If you would like to have your name put into the puppy bowl (it’ll be clean; I promise!) for the chance to win a paperback copy of ROOT BEER CANDY AND OTHER MIRACLES, all you have to do is leave a comment below. I’ll be drawing the winner’s name at the end of day next Thursday, November 24th (Thanksgiving Day in the USA!), and announcing it here on the blog on Friday the 25th (just one month before Christmas!) 🙂

Conferences are often the brunt of jokes. You know how it is — the annual conference in Vegas that’s little more than a vacation getaway where attendees take in all the entertainment and casino opportunities, and make it to one conference session just to legitimize the trip’s expense claim.

Not so for most writers’ conferences. Maybe the difference is because writing is very much a solitary pursuit and it takes effort to commit to a weekend of being constantly immersed in a crowd of five-to-six hundred people. We have to be convinced the opportunities to improve skills and mingle with so many people who understand our unique lifestyle are going to be worth the stress of putting our introverted selves ‘out there’.

This particular weekend was definitely worth it!

The Surrey International Writers’ Conference (SiWC) has become known as “the most comprehensive professional development conference of its kind in Canada”, unique in atmosphere and what it provides for writers of every experience level. Its reputation has mushroomed and registration sold out well before this year’s event.

Last weekend writers, agents, editors, publishers and screenwriters arrived en masse to learn, teach, listen, encourage …. a total of fifty-eight of them were presenting ninety different workshops over the three days (a choice of nine in every time slot), and participating in free pitch sessions and ‘blue pencil’ consultations. Yes, it gets mind-boggling, and we came away with information overload, but inspired beyond belief.

Those things all contributed to the conference’s many highlights, but it was the less obvious experiences that made it truly unique.

Robert Dugoni and I at the book signing

a special atmosphere of camaraderie and inclusiveness that embraced novice writers and famous authors, newbies and industry professionals

evening conversations and mingling over drinks

warm smiles and words of encouragement

a New York bestselling author remembering my name from a previous year and stepping up for a photo.

tears over an unexpected award for DD Shari Green, and pride in her well-received first time workshop presentations

Presentation to Shari Green from the Surrey Board of Trade

Shari leading one of her workshops

“Mud, mud, glorious mud!”

singing along with Jack Whyte’s infamous annual rendition of the Hippopotamus Song

disbelief that it could already be the ninth year for Michael Slade’s ‘Shock Theatre’

Oh, those tights!

k c dyer’s distinctive daily selection of colourful tights

and the sun shining at least intermittently throughout the weekend to showcase the beautiful autumn scenery and the mountains of our west coast venue.

A bright morning view from our hotel room

Early evening view — last rays of sun on the mountains

I have so many photos but this sampling gives you a taste of what made the weekend special. It’s always memorable, but every year seems more so than the last. If I were to have any criticism at all, it would be that it’s getting too big, but that’s just the claustrophobia in me fluttering its anxious hands in the air. The writer in me loved it all.

Next year will be the conference’s twenty-fifth anniversary. It’s going to be spectacular! You might want to mark October 20-22, 2017 on your calendar right now.

As I mentioned last Friday, author Joylene Nowell Butler is on tour this month with MC Book Tours featuring her new mystery novel, Mâtowak: Woman Who Cries. It will be released November 1st by Dancing Lemur Press L.L.C.

My blog is today’s location on the tour, and I’m offering a tantalizing sneak peek from Chapter 12. I think you’ll enjoy it.

You can follow the rest of Joylene’s daily tour schedule by clicking here to find other excerpts, Q&As, chances to win copies of her book and more. If you click on the bright red Rafflecopter link at the end of this page (below the excerpt), there’s an opportunity to enter to win one of three print copies of Mâtowak: Woman Who Cries (available to people in the USA only) and one eBook copy (available internationally). The giveaway ends November 22nd.

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Synopsis:

A murder enveloped in pain and mystery…

When Canada’s retired Minister of National Defense, Leland Warner, is murdered in his home, the case is handed to Corporal Danny Killian, an aboriginal man tortured by his wife’s unsolved murder.

The suspect, 60-year-old Sally Warner, still grieves for the loss of her two sons, dead in a suicide/murder eighteen months earlier. Confused and damaged, she sees in Corporal Killian a friend sympathetic to her grief and suffering and wants more than anything to trust him.

Danny finds himself with a difficult choice—indict his prime suspect, the dead minister’s horribly abused wife or find a way to protect her and risk demotion. Or worse, transfer away from the scene of his wife’s murder and the guilt that haunts him…

Through the French doors and across the way to my husband’s study, an officer rummages through Leland’s desk, then his filing cabinet. How many are upstairs going through, well, who knows what really? How many are in the kitchen and the garage?

I focus on comforting visions. Images of blackberry bushes rise in front of me. My gloved hands sweep the stems aside. I concentrate on relaxing by slowing my breathing. Out of my peripheral vision, on the fringe of the room, I see someone hunting through the wet bar and the cupboards beneath. He knocks about on the shelves with only his shoulders and head visible. The small refrigerator door swooshes open, he looks in. Another officer says something to him and he shuts the door.

What are they after? What have they been doing since I left this morning? I should never have left. I should have stayed and—and—and…

I pull a tissue from my pocket and face the fireplace. Next to it are the French doors leading out back. I dab at the moisture on my upper lip. A gust of wind swirls the white flakes outside, throwing them to and fro. I feel like the snow, my thoughts blowing in many directions.

I twist to the left away from Pinscher’s and Killian’s scrutiny and, through the other French doors, see a man pass from the breakfast room to the kitchen. He disappears. The upright freezer door opens. The door and adjacent wall block my view, but I imagine him unwrapping each package, then rewrapping sloppily and tossing them aside. He does this until he’s opened every package. He returns them to the freezer. I see all this in my mind. After they leave, I’ll have to rewrap everything. A voice inside of me says you’re being absurd. Of course they wouldn’t go through my—freezer. The door closes. Now I sense him going through the pantry…

Fifteen minutes have passed according to the grandfather clock near the entrance wall. I’m grateful I sit in my gathering room and not in my bedroom. The idea that a stranger would go through my lingerie drawer is almost too much to bear. I feel violated. My skin crawls. Killian speaks to someone. I turn in time to see Lacroix. I recognize him immediately, though I haven’t seen him since our sons died. He’s coming this way. I look to Killian for support. He’s too busy eyeing his boss. Lacroix sits down across from me but something distracts him near the room’s entrance. I drop my hands to my lap and, remembering my Law and Order shows, try hard not to appear frightened.

Joylene lives with her husband and their two cats Marbles and Shasta on beautiful Cluculz Lake in central British Columbia. They spend their winters in Bucerias, Nayarit, Mexico. For more on Joylene and her writing, visit her website and blog then connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and her Amazon Author Page.

Joylene Nowell Butler has done it again – written another excellent, ‘un-put-downable’ murder mystery. Her previous two, Dead Witness and Broken but Not Dead, are what I’d call psychological thrillers. Her latest novel, the sequel to Broken but Not Dead, Mâtowak: Woman Who Cries, is more of a police procedural while still providing a suspenseful probe into complex and troubled characters. It kept me enthralled right to the last page.

I’ll be taking part in Joylene’s virtual book tour next Friday, October 28th, with a sneak peek at Mâtowak, posting a chapter excerpt here for you. I guarantee it’ll whet your appetite and have you wanting to read more!

If you’d like to follow her book tour, you’ll find a schedule of the daily posts on Joylene’s blog, here.

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Mâtowak: Woman Who Cries

A murder enveloped in pain and mystery…

When Canada’s retired Minister of National Defense, Leland Warner, is murdered in his home, the case is handed to Corporal Danny Killian, an aboriginal man tortured by his wife’s unsolved murder.

The suspect, 60-year-old Sally Warner, still grieves for the loss of her two sons, dead in a suicide/murder eighteen months earlier. Confused and damaged, she sees in Corporal Killian a friend sympathetic to her grief and suffering and wants more than anything to trust him.

Danny finds himself with a difficult choice—indict his prime suspect, the dead minister’s horribly abused wife or find a way to protect her and risk demotion. Or worse, transfer away from the scene of his wife’s murder and the guilt that haunts him…

~

Mâtowak: Woman Who Cries will release on November 1st and is currently available for pre-order in eBook at the following sites:

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I'm a freelance writer of fiction and non-fiction living on the West Coast of Canada. Thanks for visiting here. Grab a coffee and come join in the conversation. I love to read your comments, and even if I can't always reply, please know I appreciate your input. I usually post here at least once a week ... but not always. ;)